Harvard’s prestigious debate team loses to NY inmates

Debaters from the Eastern New York Correctional Facility defeated debaters from Harvard University, proving that a few of our nation’s greatest human minds are behind bars.

The three men who took the victory are all serving time for manslaughter. “And we are incredibly thankful to Bard and the Eastern New York Correctional Facility for the work they do and for organising this event”.

The debate happened in September but this is the only time the event was picked up by the press. The Harvard team shouldn’t feel too bad, as the prison team had previously beaten the University of Vermont (a ranked team) and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, according to Daily Kos. The inmates were well-prepared and presented an unexpected line of argument, Carell told Brody.

“The debating team thinks debating is a powerful tool, and we want to work with other organisations to try to get public debating in more public schools”.

Ms. Nugent said the Harvard College Debating Union didn’t respond to parts of that argument, though both sides did an excellent job.

The team debated on whether public schools run by the government could deny enrollment to undocumented students.

The inmates impressed the judges by suggesting that if public schools turned the students away, non-governmental organisations or wealthier schools could step in and provide better education to the children in any case.

Their match against Harvard went the same way for the inmates, with judges deciding the Bard Prison Institute won the debate. Last month they invited the Ivy League undergraduates and this year’s national debate champions over for a friendly competition. The inmates focused on high dropout rates for immigrants and that they would be essentially “warehoused”, according to a Wall Street Journal reporter who was present.

“The fact that we won is nice, but it isn’t the most important thing,” said Kenner, adding that the club was meant to help students articulate what they have learned.

The inmate debate team first participated in debates in 2014. The Harvard debate team also posted a congratulatory message to the inmates on their official Facebook page.